Liquid dietary supplements and energy shots are often sold in single serve containers. Therefore, in order to reduce the cost per serving, manufacturing costs, or environmental impact and/or to increase product utility or manufacturing and packaging efficiencies, it can be advantageous to sell such dietary supplements and energy drinks in bulk packaging that contains any suitable number of individual servings. For example, a dietary supplement or energy drink could be sold in a multi-serving or bulk container, such as a liquid bladder, from which a number of individual servings could be served. However, bulk packaging presents a significant problem for measuring and dispensing a proper serving or dosage size. In particular, the use of liquid bulk packaging, wherein multiple servings are held in a bladder, can make it difficult to dispense a proper serving size in that the liquid bulk packaging medium is not suitable to merchandise or market because of the concern that overconsumption may result. Additionally, while it may be an option to include a refillable bottle or other metered vessel outside of the bulk package, efficiently packaging the refillable bottle or other metered vessel outside of the bulk packaging presents problems for the shipping and marketing the product. For example, the refillable bottle or other metered vessel can inflict damage on or be damaged by the bulk packaging holding the liquid, beverage, or dietary supplement. Likewise, having a refillable bottle or other metered vessel on the outside of the bulk packaging creates problems with marketing and merchandising the product, because with the refillable bottle or other metered vessels packaged on the outside of the bulk packaging, the product takes up extra shelf space and cannot be arranged efficiently. Finally, by packaging the refillable bottle or other metered vessel outside of the bulk packaging container, those items can often be separated from the main packaging by ordinary movements that occur at retail, as well as by theft.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a bulk liquid or beverage container with internally retained refillable bottles or other metered vessels that can be used to ensure proper serving sizes of the liquid or beverage that is contained within the bulk packaging container. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.